bugbear
nounEtymology
From obsolete meaning of bug (“something terrifying”) + bear. See Middle English bugge, modern bogey.
Definitions
An ongoing problem
An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
- Stone ballast is now used throughout the main line, and has the additional advantage of eliminating the previous bugbear of dust.
- Level crossings are the bugbear of railway operation at Hull. There are no fewer than 16 within the city boundary.
- Next, they operate in constrained worlds. Apple is a particular bugbear for Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Sweeney.
A source of dread
A source of dread; resentment; or irritation.
- What has this Bugbear Death to frighten Man, If Souls can die, as well as Bodies can?
- But, to the world no bugbear is so great As want of figure and a small estate.
- What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?
A generic creature, often described as a large goblin, meant to inspire fear in children.
- Ha, ha: alas poore wretch: a poore Chipochia, haſt not ſlept to night? would he not (a naughty man) let it ſleepe: a bug-beare take him.
- “How could you lie so glaringly as to affirm I hated the ‘poor child’? and invent bugbear stories to terrify her from my door-stones?[…]”
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
To alarm with idle phantoms.
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at bugbear. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at bugbear. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
8 hops · closes at bugbear
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA